10 men Darlo battle to take the points

By Olly Chapman
August 30 2005

10 man Darlington were rewarded for their work ethics with a 2-1 win over high flyers Rochdale, grabbing 4 points out of six from the bank holiday week-end.

On the back of an eight goal thriller at the Deva Stadium, Darlington claimed a deserved 3 points against opponents Rochdale, the first goal coming after good link up play between Ryan Valentine and Akpo Sodje drew the goalkeeper off his line allowing Simon Johnson to slot home with a crisp finsh.

After the break, Rochdale were awarded a contreversial penalty after Matthew Clarke was alleged to have pulled down an opponent in the penalty area. Clarke saw red, and Rochdale saw Grant Holt send Bossu the wrong way for 1-1.

Hardworking Darlington refused to say die however, and re-took the lead through Carlos Logan after a Neil Wainwright assist and a fair bit of trickery, Logan slotted home his third goal of the season.

Darlington had chances to increase the lead through Akpo Sodje and Neil Wainwright, but both players failed to find the target.